Saturday, March 05, 2005

The Lady Doth Protest Too Much

We commend to your attention an excellent post by our distinguished colleague Scorpio at Eccentricity, on Iraq, the Sgrena/Calipari shooting, and S. Douglas Smith, the Pentagon spokesman who blamed the recent sharp decline in Army recruiting numbers not on 1500 dead and many thousands wounded, but on press coverage of the 1500 dead and many thousands wounded. The post also contains a link to an especially intriguing item from a publication called Christian Century:

Officials of the Church of the Brethren say they will follow through on a request from the Selective Service to have “alternative service” programs in place for conscientious objectors if a military draft is reinstated.

Leaders of one of the historic peace churches that shun military service, Brethren executives were “cautious” after an unannounced visit by a draft official to a church center in Maryland last October. They were worried that the visit signaled that a draft may be at hand, something Selective Service spokespersons continued to deny.

In follow-up meetings, draft officials urged the church to dust off longstanding alternative service programs that allow conscientious objectors to serve in two-year domestic service projects in lieu of military service . . . .

Selective Service officials have insisted that there are no plans to reinstate the draft. They said Alternative Service Director Cassandra Costley stopped by the Brethren Service Center simply because she was in the area.

Dick Flahavan, a spokesman for Selective Service, said officials did their best to convince church leaders there is no draft on the horizon. “We answered every one of their questions and they didn’t leave with anything hanging,” he said. “What we were telling them was what we tell everyone. The story hasn’t varied.”